The infamous cholla "jumping cactus" - Dad warned me about these cacti. He told the story of his road trip with mom across the southwest in the 70s, and how they came across these unforgiving cacti. Mom noticed a beautiful flower and put her finger out to
Dad warned me about these cacti. He told the story of his road trip with mom across the southwest in the 70s, and how they came across these unforgiving cacti. Mom noticed a beautiful flower and put her finger out to touch it. A jumping cactus like this one latched onto her finger and wouldn't let go. She got histerical and cried for dad to take it off. Dad wisely got some newspaper and slowly pulled it off to avoid getting stuck himself.
In my case, I didn't know what the "jumping cactus" actually looked like, so when I saw a few roundish cacti on the ground like this one, I was curious. I carefully grabbed one of the spines to get a better look at it. The crazy part was, and the reason they get their name, another nearby spine stuck into my finger. It just got worse from there.
Natural reaction to sudden pain is to pull away, but because the spines have microscopic barbs and tips that curve on contact with moisture from the underlayer of your skin, the spine stuck into me and stayed in. So when I pulled away, the spines held on, and the rest of the cactus swung back into my hand, sticking even more spines into my palm and fingers.
To get the spines out, you really need pliers or a multitool. I had neither, so I used two sturdy sticks to pry the spines out of my skin one-by-one. A painfully messy experience.
Gates Pass Trail,
Tucson Mountain Park
The infamous cholla "jumping cactus" - Dad warned me about these cacti. He told the story of his road trip with mom across the southwest in the 70s, and how they came across these unforgiving cacti. Mom noticed a beautiful flower and put her finger out to
Dad warned me about these cacti. He told the story of his road trip with mom across the southwest in the 70s, and how they came across these unforgiving cacti. Mom noticed a beautiful flower and put her finger out to touch it. A jumping cactus like this one latched onto her finger and wouldn't let go. She got histerical and cried for dad to take it off. Dad wisely got some newspaper and slowly pulled it off to avoid getting stuck himself.
In my case, I didn't know what the "jumping cactus" actually looked like, so when I saw a few roundish cacti on the ground like this one, I was curious. I carefully grabbed one of the spines to get a better look at it. The crazy part was, and the reason they get their name, another nearby spine stuck into my finger. It just got worse from there.
Natural reaction to sudden pain is to pull away, but because the spines have microscopic barbs and tips that curve on contact with moisture from the underlayer of your skin, the spine stuck into me and stayed in. So when I pulled away, the spines held on, and the rest of the cactus swung back into my hand, sticking even more spines into my palm and fingers.
To get the spines out, you really need pliers or a multitool. I had neither, so I used two sturdy sticks to pry the spines out of my skin one-by-one. A painfully messy experience.
Gates Pass Trail,
Tucson Mountain Park